World Cup 2014

[jayaykay]

I see where Brazil have a defender in their squad named Maxwell!
And they also have a forward named Hulk!

Guess we should support Brazil then!

[Dave The Man]

Good Luck to the Socceroo's

[Johnno75]

Socceroos 2-0 down after 14 mins.

Just saw the highlights of the Dutch v Spain game. How impressive were the Dutch......

[Johnno75]

TIMMMY CAHILLLLLL

Finally a deep cross in to the 6 yard box.

2-1 down but back in it.

[Museman]

Inept...

Played the first 20 mins pissing their pants....

Zero clue going forward in the second, our whole GP seems to be get it to Cahill in the air, to nutless to pull the trigger.....plenty who don't belong, the lack of self belief is astounding....

If you don't believe you belong....YOU DON'T BELONG!

[roar]

Thought they did well after the first 20 minutes of total ineptness. No doubt we are a few players short of being a real threat but it was a lot better than expected. Certainly played as they belong, and made Chile work hard for their win.

[Johnno75]

Disagree with inept and they don't belong. Remember this team has only played 5 games together. It appeared they were nervous early and they were disorganised in defence but after the first 15 minutes the defence settled well. Was the first time I saw Davidson at left back and was impressed. Also was the first time I had seen Leckie and he was also impressive.

Australia strength is the high ball into the box and Cahill's goal was a classic Australian set piece. The disallowed goal would have been high class the cross and build up was superb and Cahill smashed home a low header but was fractionally offside.

I think there is a bright future for our national team. There is a lot of youth and the next 2 opponents are a class above Chile so results will probably get worse, but there was a lot to like about today.

[Museman]

i would go so far as to say that they virtually bossed it after the first 20, thats not my point, they were impotent going forward save for the cahill option(which yes is the best option but you need to vary it to have it be effective) and they damaged that option continually by basically using it only.

the amount of times towards the end that we had numerous players pushing toward the box without any having the confidence to make a run was ridicules and spoke volumes as to a one way forward root we took and our inept planning for anything other than it.

the leckie run summed it up.....pull the farken trigger kid!

oar...does not belong
jedi..(farked if i know why hes captain) does not belong (milligan is the better option and we don't need 2 holding)
halloran..does not belong
mcgowan got turned around often enough to be attending a dance class...does not belong.

a confident team with self belief would have won 3-1 with the holes chille left.

johnno they were disorganized because they were shitting themselves...not because they've only had 5 games otherwise they would have remained disorganized for the duration.

you know what hiddink taught the 06 australian team?

to believe!

it's always been our achilles.....and it reared it's head again this morning.

believe you are inferior and you are inferior.

[swoop42]

We did better than Spain and they are a supposed super power of soccer.

I'm no soccer fan but don't mind the world cup but it doesn't take an expert to see we simply don't have the talent to match it with the likes of Chile this time around with our youngest ever world cup squad of players.

Chile destroyed England at Wembley in the lead up to this world cup didn't they and from this casual observer I don't see the talent of Kewell, Viduka, Cahill etc. in the next generation of young players coming through playing overseas and in reality soccer remains a minor sport in Australia compared to AFL and NRL.

It has nothing to do with feeling inferior IMO and if anything Australian sides have punched above there weight for a while now IMO.

This side has been selected with a view to the next world cup cause in reality we were never a hope of going far in this one.

[Museman]

[Johnno75]

Kennedy is a big loss he is a tall option that opposition defences can struggle with. I thought they created some good opportunities in the 2nd half. Bresciano pulled the trigger and with a bit of luck could have gone in.

The Socceroos will probably lose worse to the Dutch and Spain but I think they are looking at the bigger picture about developing a good team for 2018, starting with this World Cup and the upcoming Asian Cup.

[swoop42]

If you think we are capable of consistently beating the worlds best footballing countries on this biggest stage then i believe you are vastly overestimating us.

Hardly any Australian players would be household names and stars in the largest and best international football competitions.

We simply don't have the available depth of talent and you only have to look at a country like the United States who have a far larger population (and competitive at most sports) to see when soccer isn't the dominant sport world cup wins are few and far between.

Christ England have only won one world cup and there football obsessed.

[Johnno75]

Fantastic effort by the Socceroos this morning, we should all be very proud. They were pretty sound in defence and it was a lapse that cost us the first goal when Robben did us on the counter attack but Australia pressing up on the Dutch was very good.

But FMD what a reply by Cahill from the kick off, goal of the tournament by the length of the Flemington straight……The penalty was there, technically it was a hand ball but it is generally 50-50 if the referees pay it if it doesn’t look intentional.

The Dutch are a world class outfit so their setup for Van Persie’s goal was all class and like they did against Spain showed it doesn’t take them much to create an opportunity/goal.

I think all of Australia would love to take back the 2 minutes around the 66th minute. The Dutch made a mistake at the back and Leckie should have buried the header from the 6 yard box but mishits it to the keeper and then they score from the counter and although the ball did dip away I thought Ryan should have saved it. Those 2 minutes were massive in the game and it would have been a dramatic twist had Australia taken the lead back at 3-2. All in all a fantastic effort and given the fact Spain is dreadfully out of form if the Socceroos can produce a similar game they are not without a chance.

Well done Socceroos you made us all proud.

[Pies4shaw]

A good, balanced post, Johnno75. I didn't really barrack in this game (from the first time I saw international soccer, I was captivated by Cruijff and Neeskens, so I don't really have it in me to barrack against the Dutch, even when they play our boys) but I think that the Australians exceeded reasonable expectations (they dominated the Dutch for much of the game, which I didn't expect) and if Cahill had any help (say if Kennedy hadn't been injured), they could have taken this game.

Tim Cahill is an absolute stand out, though. In future years, his efforts will be remembered and replayed around the world. He's one of that pantheon of soccer greats who had the misfortune not to be born a national of one of the strong soccer nations (Roger Milla, Jari Litmanen and Andrei Shevchenko send their regards). One senses that he's, perhaps, the player out of the entire tournament who is capable of imposing himself on a World Cup final. Its just a shame it's a team game and Australia isn't a little classier all around while he's still at his peak. His goal today was one of the best World Cup goals I have ever seen.

[Johnno75]

At the end of the day a world class team will make you pay of lapses of concentration. Tactically Australia was very good Leckie was great down the right, Jedanik did a job on Sneijder. Australia had most of the possession in the first 20 minutes but conceded on the counter attack but what was more impressive is that once they conceded they didn’t go into their shells they continued to attack.

I’d even go as far as saying losing Indi perhaps helped the Dutch as they started with the same system they used against Spain a 5-3-2 which Australia was finding many opportunities against, then moved to a 4-3-3 after they lost Indi which stabilized their defence.

Even with Van Persie’s goal Davidson most likely played him on side and he will learn from that and so will Mat Ryan.

Ange has made the world of difference and definitely made the right choice to cut players like Wilkshire, Niell and go for the youth. We have uncovered players such as Davidson, Leckie, Spiranovic and even Oliver Bozanic.
They did play this game without Milligan, Rhys Williams, Robbie Kruze and Franjic and you would probably argue that had Kennedy been fit he would have been in the starting 11.

Unfortunately Cahill will miss against Spain and there are even doubts over Bresciano but it would be good to see the Socceroos without these 2 because they are probably going to be the next 2 to retire possibly after the Asian Cup.